We’re All in This Together: Listening to Each Other in Troubled Times

It is challenging to hold on to a hope of peaceful coexistence, harmony, and positive conflict resolution in light of all the mass shootings, terrorist attacks against social services people, children, LGBT people, Moslems, and police officers, and the multiple murders of African Americans by police officers.

The reason doesn’t matter. The justification doesn’t matter. The person or group or ideology doesn’t matter. All hatred and demonization end up the same—seeing the other as less than human, a symbol of something bad rather than a person with hopes, dreams, and flaws. Hate is blinding. It makes the other less worthy of tenderness and compassion and respect. so it becomes acceptable to vilify or destroy them, as symbols or to make a point, denying their human souls and ignoring that we are all in this small world together.

Hate dehumanizes both the target and the hater.

And hate hurts everyone. If you hate anyone or any group, if you treat them as object, you are truly hating yourself without knowing it. Nothing good ever comes from hating.

The humanness of misunderstanding

It is a human tendency to make assumptions, to misunderstand those different from you, to tell yourself and those you know negative stories about the “other”.

Holding these false beliefs and assumptions doesn’t make you bad, but it does make you mistaken. You don’t need to blame yourself for learning prejudice, for absorbing the propaganda all around, but you and I and each of us are responsible to wake up, to interrupt the hate and recognize the humanity we all share.

Listening deeply builds love instead of hate.

Over and over in my work with clients, in my classes, in my writing, I emphasize the power and possibility of empathy, of opening your heart and ears to listen, deeply and lovingly, to your inner self, and to the stories other people have to tell. We are divided on the surface, yet our fears and needs are so much the same.

We all share the fundamental desire for connection, safety, meaning and purpose. All of us want to live a good life, free from fear, full of abundance and love, we want to do work that matters. If we can listen deeply to the words and feelings of those different from us, we can find compassion and understanding.

Listening is strength not weakness.

Many people, especially those filled with hate and fear, hold the belief that listening is weakness. They think that strength is continuing to rigidly hold to a belief or pattern, unchanging. But an inability to take in new information, to grow and change in the light of new ideas, and abandon old beliefs that aren’t true or no longer serve you, is actually a terrible weakness. It makes people brittle instead of resilient, fearful and narrow instead of courageous, creative, and open hearted.

Trust change

All it takes to promote change is humble willingness and practice. Put aside labels, stereotypes, the hatred and suspicion of the “other” that almost all of us are taught in one way or another, listen without an agenda, and embrace our true mission–to love and care for each other, together as one.

As Dr.Martin Luther King famously said: “Violence begets violence; hate begets hate; and toughness begets a greater toughness. It is all a descending spiral, and the end is destruction — for everybody. Along the way of life, someone must have enough sense and morality to cut off the chain of hate.”

Listening deeply can be a powerful tool to cut that chain.

Biography

Lorraine Segal, M.A. is a Conflict Management and Communication Consultant, Coach, and Trainer. Through her own business, Conflict Remedy, Ms. Segal works with corporations and non-profits as well as governmental entities and individuals to promote harmonious and productive workplaces.

She is a consultant and trainer for County of Sonoma. And, at Sonoma State University, she is the curriculum designer and lead teacher for the new Conflict Management Certificate program. Ms. Segal was recently named one of the top 30 Conflict Resolution experts to follow on LinkedIn. She is also a contributing author to the forthcoming book, Stand Up, Speak Out Against Workplace Bullying.

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